Your Humble Scribe

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

We will now add insult to injury

By way of Sweden, we learn of an enterprising young man who has decided to seek his fortune through the distribution and sale of recreational pharmaceuticals.Seems our young gentleman doesn't actually have access to the substances desired -- no matter! He proceeds to wrap 200 grams of chocolate in a bindle, and tell potential eager purchasers that the package contains marijuana.I say "eager purchasers", because upon discovering that they paid about thirteen hundred bucks ($1,300) for a package containing nothing more exotic than theobromine, said "eager purchasers" proceed to hunt down the aspiring dealer, and shoot him in the foot before whacking him over the head with an axe.

You know, it being Sweden and all, I shouldn't be surprised an axe was involved.

By all appearances the proto-dealer seems to have survived the experience. I say this, because the local prosecutor has decided to press charges against him for fraud -- and yes, mota is illegal in Sweden.*blink, blink*Not only is it illegal to sell happy terbaccy, but it's illegal to defraud people when selling it?You know, I never thought of that. Of course, I figure the fraud charges were time served just as soon as the bullet went through his foot, or the axe bounced of his skull -- but that's just me.Tip of the Stetson to Peter.LawDog

11 comments:

Same thing in Washington State. Strangely enough. My sister, 14 at the time, was living on the streets of [insert large, well-known city in WA], and decided she needed money. However, she had no drugs to sell. So, she scraped together her last few pennies and bought a box of sugar cubes, and a roll of tin foil. Her first sale of the supposed LSD-laced cubes was... an undercover cop. My mother got the call at 2am from the downtown precinct, wanting to know if she was going to pick up said daughter from them, after explaining WHY she was there. Mom said no - she'd come down later in the morning. LOL. Sis was p.o.'d, needless to say.

More info in the original story (in Swedish):http://www.skd.se/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070709/DAGENSTIDNING/707090007

The charges for the men was lowered because they were fooled. The original charge was "fellony robbery", with a 2 year minimum sentence. It's now lowered to "fellony assault", with a one year minimum. The reason for this is that they were fooled, and the prosecutor says that "there's a difference between robbery and taking your money back".

The guy that sold the chocolate is charged with fraud, which is between 2 years and 14 days. In this case the prosecutor says it will end up in the lower end of the spectrum.

But technically, it's possible that the guy selling chocolate under false pretences might serve more than the guys he sold it to and who beat him up for it... :-)

This just got me remembering a scene from "A few good men":http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104257/quotes

- It was oregano, Dave, it was a dime bag of oregano. - Yeah, well, your client thought it was marijuana. - My client's a moron, that's not against the law. - I got people to answer to just like you do. I'm gonna charge him. - With what, possession of a condiment?

It seems at least monthly there's a "stupid crooks" story about somebody complaining to the police about the drugs they bought being fake. Actually had it happen in a neighboring county just a couple of weeks ago.

They did a similar thing on one episode of JAG, except there, it was a washed up DEA dog mistook a satchel full of oregano for pot and couldn't tell the difference when the two were side by side in court.

This thing of presenting something as real, mostly the gun in my theory, can be good or bad depending on why. If you're running a bluff to defend yourself, it may be good. If you're running that same bluff to rob someone, as understood, it's bad and criminal. Just depends on context.

If someone presents something as drugs and it's not, I'd have to agree that it don't matter whether it is or not. Buyer and seller are both stupid. Seller's not even an honest crook which is worse than being a crook in the first place. I recall hearing of one buyer who, with her friends, were snorting Tide- the laundry detergent- thinking it was cocaine and carrying on about what good stuff it was... that was some expensive Tide too... blue crystals and all. *eyeroll*

Mustang,I guess bubbles blowing out of their nose didn't give them any clues? :)

You can't fix stupid......

However, I would think cops should encourage fake drugs being sold (as long as they're not deadly) After someone blows $1,300 on fake drugs (chocolate in this case), they may be VERY hesitant to keep buying.....

A kid here got stopped with a huge load of blotting paper with faces printed on it. The copper asked him what it was. He replied 'I think its LSD'. After testing it was confirmed it was just blotting paper. The charge was attempting to possess in order to supply. If in doubt, keep your mouth shut...